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Drama club starts in Hall Beach

Jennifer Geens
Northern News Services

Hall Beach (Apr 05/04) - A group of Sanirajak residents are trying to preserve Inuit heritage through theatre.

Dora Anguilianuk said the newly founded drama club will act out stories of how things used to be.

"We're losing too much of the traditional way of living," said Anguilianuk.

Inspired by the way Iglulik filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk put Inuit heritage on the big screen, she approached elders in the community and asked if they would be interested in participating in a drama class.

About 20 people, including three elders, signed up for the club and attended the first meeting. Anguilianuk said the meeting the last Tuesday in March was particularly productive.

"The elders told stories about a long time ago," she said.

One was about a woman shaman and her husband who go out to hunt. Unsuccessful in his hunting, he is so hungry he plans to eat his wife on his return. But because she is a shaman, the wife knows what he is thinking and makes preparations before his return.

The club wants to turn some of the stories into skits to perform for the community during Easter.

If all goes well after the Easter skits, the group hopes to write another, longer play based on a book Anguilianuk read in school about hunters and migrations.

The drama group has been fundraising for their productions by holding rummage sales. In the future they're going to try and get permission to hold bingo games and raffles. The money will to help them buy materials to make costumes.

In the meantime, the club is facing the same kind of problem any volunteer group has: trying to hold onto their membership when everyone is busy with other things.